The racist and inhumane policies of the National Socialists did not stop at innocent newborns. While pregnant Polish and Russian women who had to perform forced labour in the German Reich were initially sent back to their homeland in accordance with the repatriation decree, the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment, Fritz Sauckel, suspended this decree and on 15 December 1942 instructed the state labour offices to set up maternity wards for Eastern workers in cooperation with the factories. The management of the Volkswagen factory therefore had infirmary barracks built in the "Eastern camp", which were under the supervision of Russian doctors. From the summer of 1943, the situation in the "Ostlager" deteriorated seriously as a result of an agreement reached between the district leader of the NSDAP, Ernst Lütge, the factory and the district of Gifhorn. According to this agreement, the Volkswagen factory's child care home for foreigners was to take in all the children of "Eastern workers" from the district. While there had previously been around 20 babies to care for, this number now doubled. In October 1943, the home was therefore relocated to Schachtweg (now the corner of Seilerstraße) to the communal camp, whose barracks offered more space. It remained here until June 1944. -__-0000-__-

In October, according to Hans Körbel, the factory doctor in charge, there were already 65 children in the home.-__-0000-__- It consisted of two barracks in which bathtubs had been installed and cross walls had been erected to create nursing rooms and four children's rooms. There was also a bathroom, a kitchen, a laundry room and an office. The second barrack housed mothers who had just given birth. The barracks were heated by a stove.-__-0001-__- The German nurse Ella Schmidt was in charge; two German nurses and several Russian nurses were subordinate to her.-__-0002-__-

Initially, according to the Jewish-Polish nurse Sara Frenkel, who testified in the 1946 war crimes trial against those responsible under her cover name Charlotte Bass, the home was orderly and in good condition. However, the situation had deteriorated significantly by the end of 1943, early 1944 at the latest. While the mothers were initially allowed to stay with their children for at least five to six weeks, later they were only allowed to stay for three to four weeks, which is why the newborns had to be artificially fed much earlier.-__-0003-__- Frenkel reports of emaciated babies whose bones were clearly showing.-__-0004-__- Finally, the facility was soon significantly overcrowded. The four children's rooms were designed for around twenty babies each, which meant that the total capacity of the home was around 80 infants. In the spring of 1944, however, there were already between 120 and 140 children. Many beds therefore had to accommodate two children, which encouraged the spread of illnesses.

In the winter of 1943, some of the children suffered from pneumonia and influenza.-__-0006-__- At the same time, Körbel discovered boils, eczema and ulcers on the babies for the first time during his visits to the home. In February 1944, an extra room was set up for the sick children in order to deal with the developing epidemic.-__-0007-__- The hygienic conditions were catastrophic and the sanitary facilities inadequate. Moreover, according to nurse Sara Frenkel, the infants slept in their beds on simple straw mattresses, which were not changed once while the home was in the communal camp and were therefore infested with vermin.-__-0008-__- In addition, the barracks had been damaged in an air raid on the Volkswagen factory.-__-0009-__-

-__-0013-__- Hans Mommsen/Manfred Grieger, Das Volkswagenwerk und seine Arbeiter im Dritten Reich. Düsseldorf 1996, pp. 762-765. Marcel Brüntrup has done an exemplary job of researching the history of the Volkswagenwerk's children's home for foreigners. The study will be published by Wallstein Verlag in spring 2019.
-__-0014-__- PRO London, WO 235/267, interview with Hans Körbel on June 8, 1946, p. 28. The files of the so-called "Rühen Baby Case" are located in the National Archives (formerly Public Record Office) in London (WO 235-263-277). The minutes of the court hearing (WO 235/263-271) on microfilm (StadtA WOB, HA F113, also digitized) and the evidence relating to the trial (WO 235/271-273) can be viewed as printouts at the Institute for Contemporary History and City Presentation (Wolfsburg) (StadtA WOB, p 20 (16)).
-__-0015-__- StadtA WOB, EB 3, Interview with Ella Schmidt from November 4, 1970, pp. 4-7.
-__-0016-__- Ibid, and PRO London, WO 235/267, interview with Eugenie Wirls, May 24, 1946, p. 22.
-__-0017-__- PRO London, WO 235/267, Interview with Eugenie Wirls, May 24, 1946, p. 20.
-__-0018-__- PRO London, WO 235/265, interview with Charlotte Bass, May 28, 1946, p. 4.
-__-0019-__- StadtA WOB, EB 3, interview with Ella Schmidt, November 4, 1970, pp. 4-7.
-__-0020-__- PRO London, WO 235/267, interview with Hans Körbel, June 8, 1946, p. 29.
-__-0021-__- Ibid, p. 31.
-__-0022-__- PRO London, WO 235/265, interview with Charlotte Bass, May 28, 1946, p. 5.
-__-0023-__- StadtA WOB, EB 3, Interview with Ella Schmidt of November 4, 1970, p. 7.
-__-0024-__- PRO London, WO 235/272, Exhibit 47, memorandum by Dr. Georg Tyrolt dated 13 June 1944 concerning a discussion about the measures being taken to normalize the accommodation in the children's home for foreigners.
-__-0025-__- Klaus-Jörg Siegfried, Das Leben der Zwangsarbeiter im Volkswagenwerk. Frankfurt am Main/New York 1988, p. 240.
-__-0026-__- Mommsen/Grieger, Das Volkswagenwerk und seine Arbeiter im Dritten Reich (as note 1), p. 763.